A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Relationship of TV watching, computer use, and reading to children's neurocognitive functions




AuthorsJohanna Rosenqvist, Pekka Lahti-Nuuttila, James Holdnack, Sally L. Kemp, Marja Laasonen

PublisherPergamon Press

Publication year2016

JournalJournal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume46

First page 11

Last page21

Number of pages11

ISSN0193-3973

eISSN1873-7900

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.04.006


Abstract

We studied the relationship between time spent watching TV, using the computer, or reading and performance on neurocognitive tasks of attention/executive functions, language, memory/learning, social perception, and visuospatial processing in 5–12-year-old children (N = 381). The results showed significant positive (for computer use and reading) and negative (for TV watching) relations between media use and neurocognitive functions as assessed with the NEPSY-II. When media and background variables (age, sex, and maternal education) were taken into account, computer use was positively related to language, memory/learning, and social perception. Reading was positively related to attention/executive functions and visuospatial processing in the younger age groups. There were also significant positive relations between reading and memory/learning when maternal education was lower than average. In contrast, TV watching was negatively related to all assessed neurocognitive domains and, in all, maternal education, not the media variables, was the strongest predictor of all neurocognitive variables.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 23:40